1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure sensor apparatus preferably used in an integrated fluid control apparatus which is used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or the like, and is assembled in such a manner as to independently take out a fluid control equipment upward at a time of maintenance and inspection, and a pressure sensor built-in fluid control equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fluid control apparatus used in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is structured such that the fluid control equipments such as amass flow controller, an opening and closing valve and the like are arranged in plural rows, and flow paths of the fluid control equipments in the adjacent rows are connected to each other by equipment connecting means at a predetermined position. However, in recent years, in this kind of fluid control apparatus, there has been advanced an integration of arranging a plurality of fluid control equipments in an upper stage and connecting them by a block-like joint member arranged in a lower stage (patent document 1 and patent document 2).
FIG. 5 shows an integrated fluid control apparatus disclosed in the patent document 1. One line (C) of the fluid control apparatus is constituted by a plurality of upper stage members and a plurality of lower stage members. As the upper stage members, there are arranged an opening and closing valve (manual) (11), a pressure regulator (16), a pressure sensor (12), an inverted V-shaped passage block (20), a shutoff releasing device (13), a mass flow controller (14), an opening and closing valve (automatic) (15), an inverted V-shaped passage block (20) and a filter (17). Further, as the lower stage members, there are arranged an L-shaped passage block joint (32) which is connected to the opening and closing valve (11) and to which an inlet joint (31) is attached, a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the opening and closing valve (11) and the pressure regulator (16), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the pressure regulator (16) and the pressure sensor (12), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the pressure sensor (12) and the inverted V-shaped passage block (20), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the inverted V-shaped passage block (20) and the shutoff releasing device (13), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the shutoff releasing device (13) and the mass flow controller (14), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the mass flow controller (14) and the opening and closing valve (15), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the opening and closing valve (15) and the inverted V-shaped passage block (20), a V-shaped passage block joint (33) which communicates the inverted V-shaped passage block (20) and the filter (17), and an L-shaped passage block joint (32) which is connected to the filter (17) and to which an outlet joint 34 is attached, alphabetically from a left side. Further, the various joint members (31)(32)(33) and (34) serving as the lower stage members are mounted on one elongated sub base plate (3), and the various fluid control equipments (11), (16), (12), (20), (13), (14), (15), (20) and (17) serving as the upper stage members are attached astride these lower stage members (31)(32)(33) and (34), whereby one line (C) is formed, a plurality of lines formed as a similar structure to the line (C) are arranged in parallel on the main base plate (2), and the shutoff releasing devices (13) in the respective lines (C) are connected by passage connecting means (50) constituted by three I-shaped passage block joints (51) and a tube (52) connecting the I-shaped passage block joints (51) to each other, whereby an integrated fluid control apparatus is formed.
The patent document 2 proposes forming a new fluid control equipment by attaching the pressure regulator (16) and the pressure sensor (12) which are separated from each other in the patent document 1, to one block-like main body, an illustration of which is omitted.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001254900
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-118054